Shifting sands: putting carbon back into soils

by Georgina Smith | May 9, 2016

By Rolf Sommer Evaluating the effectiveness of soil carbon sequestration. This post originally appears on the blog Thrive, published by the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems.  The world has a carbon problem, and we all know it. Tons of carbon...

New study calls for shift to pre-pregnancy nutrition, to drive down stunting in Rwandan children under two-years-old

by Georgina Smith | Apr 19, 2016

A new scientific report calls for a shift in interventions to tackle malnutrition in children in Rwanda under the age of two. Among recommendations, authors urge renewed focus to “fast-track” pre-pregnancy nutrition. Adolescent nutrition before pregnancy, they say,...

GCARD3: Will we be left behind?

by Georgina Smith | Apr 11, 2016

At this year’s Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD3), Mark Holderness, Executive Secretary of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, closed the 5th – 8th April meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, themed: “No one left...

Low-income communities need more affordable and nutritious food

by Georgina Smith | Apr 5, 2016

A research project tackling malnutrition among vulnerable populations in Kenya and Uganda is launched in Nairobi today. The three-year initiative targeting women aged 15-49 years of reproductive age, and children aged 6−59 months, aims to develop a quick-to-cook...

Chocolate meltdown: feeling the heat

by Georgina Smith | Apr 4, 2016

That melt-in-your-mouth chocolate egg you savored this Easter might face a different kind of meltdown in future, researchers warn in a new study.  Temperatures in West Africa’s cocoa belt – supplying 70 percent of the world’s cocoa, the raw ingredient in...